March 22, 2019 "A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work." - Colin Powell The First Regular Session of the Seventy-second General Assembly convened on Jan. 4, 2019. As of today, there have been 261 bills in the House and 206 bills in the Senate introduced. Expect weekly newsletters from Axiom during the legislative session, and your Capitol Watch bill tracker URL will be sent every Friday. -Team Axiom- Colorado legislative Democrats make a move on climate change Colorado Politics Democratic leaders in the Colorado legislature are moving fast on climate change two-thirds of the way through the 120- day session. Republicans and industry interests are certain to take on the legislation, but Democrats hold majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, and a willing a governor in Jared Polis. Polis campaigned on clean energy and environmental awareness. On Thursday House Speaker KC Becker, D-Boulder, and Rep. Dominique Jackson, D-Aurora, introduced a bill to authorize a state plan to curb carbon and "ensure that Colorado leads on climate action." Meanwhile the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee approved a bill backed by Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail, to better collect and track data on emissions. “People in my district depend on clean land, water and air for their personal enjoyment and livelihood, but climate change is putting that at risk,” Donovan said in a statement. “This bill is an important step towards protecting our environment while ensuring that the businesses powering our local economies can continue to operate in the years ahead.” The Air Quality Control Commission would collect greenhouse gas emissions data statewide for a forecast that would come with recommendations to make reductions. The commission would have until July 1, 2020, to get the system in place. Senate Bill 96 is sponsored in the House by Rep. Chris Hansen, D-Denver. House Bill 1261 — sponsored in the upper chamber by Sens. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, and Angela Williams, D- Denver — is aimed at creating jobs, the economy and spurring innovation while cutting air pollution, the sponsors said in a press release Thursday evening. Lawmakers could put goals to reduce carbon pollution into state law, and use new rules to get industry to reduce carbon emissions, as well. “Climate change is real," Becker said in a statement. "It's happening. And we have a moral and economic imperative to act now. “As a mother, a defender of clean air and water, and legislator, I am committed to ensuring our state is making responsible investments in our future and working to preserve our unique quality of life. I cannot think of a more important challenge for our state to tackle than climate change.” The Democrats listed impacts of climate change on Colorado: poor air quality, wildfires, drought, diminished snowpack and shallow rivers, all drains on the state's tourism-dependent economy. “We can cut carbon pollution and create good-paying jobs at the same time,” stated Jackson, who chairs the House Energy and Environment Committee. “Colorado must lead and we must take action now for our communities of color — who are on the front lines of climate change — and for our children, and our grandchildren.” Lawmakers plan to ask Colorado voters to permanently end TABOR refunds Colorado Politics Colorado lawmakers want to ask voters for an end to refunding excess tax revenue so that it can be spent on the state’s roads and schools. A bill being introduced Wednesday would put a question on the November ballot asking voters to let the state keep revenue it otherwise would have to refund under the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, House Speaker KC Becker of Boulder said. A companion bill would allocate a third of any excess revenue equally to transportation infrastructure, K-12 schools and higher education each year. Coloradans voted in 2005 for a five-year time-out on TABOR refunds. The Democrats’ proposal would make that permanent if approved by voters, Becker said. Becker called it “a common sense first step,” but not a permanent solution, to funding schools and roads that have been underfunded for years because of TABOR which requires voter approval to raise taxes. Democratic Sen. Lois Court of Denver and Republican Sen. Kevin Priola of Henderson, who joined Becker in announcing the initiative, said they hoped to build bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Becker read a message from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis endorsing it. Colorado voters consistently have rejected ballot measures asking them to raise state taxes for education and other priorities. In November, they defeated an education tax hike and competing measures to raise money for the state’s deteriorating roads. TABOR, a constitutional amendment, allows government to ask voters to raise taxes or keep excess revenue, and many local municipalities have done so. In November, voters in suburban Lakewood authorized the city to keep excess revenue for public safety and other purposes. TABOR sets an annual revenue limit that can trigger tax refunds based on a formula that involves population and inflation. It’s blamed by many Democrats for contributing to a $9 billion backlog in road projects and a multimillion- dollar debt to schools — all at a time when Colorado’s economy is one of the nation’s strongest. Colorado Republicans, in contrast, credit TABOR and its tax limits for the strong economy. Republicans began this legislative session wanting to build on a bipartisan effort last year that could generate $2.8 billion for transportation through bonding and direct spending. That measure will go before voters in November. If it fails, a 2017 law kicks in authorizing $1.9 billion in bonding for roads. Priola said he hopes to generate Republican support for Wednesday’s initiative. He noted that Colorado hasn’t raised its 22-cents per gallon gasoline tax, a primary funding source for roads, since 1993. “The power of TABOR is that you can go to the voters and let the voters decide,” Priola said. The measure approved by voters in 2005, known as Referendum C, allowed the state to hold onto revenue that exceeded the state’s TABOR cap for five years. Transportation advocates, such as Sandra Hagen Solin of Fix Colorado Roads, said Becker’s proposal is a “cherry on top” of anything we can get in funding but not the solution. Still, she said, “We’re encouraged by any effort to direct additional funds to transportation.” The Colorado Department of Transportation estimates it needs $9 billion over the next decade for its wish list of major road and bridge projects. The 2019-20 state budget scheduled to be introduced next week includes about $30 million for transportation, which Solin called a drop in the bucket. She doesn’t expect to see transportation to rise on Polis’ priority list, at least this year. Estimates on how much would be available from Becker’s “Son of Ref C” measure differ. The governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting has a rosier projection of around $350 million in 2019-20 and as much as $700 million the following year. The General Assembly’s economists are pretty close on that $350 million for 2019-20, but that’s where they diverge. They don’t believe there will be any surplus available in 2020-21. Solin said the latest forecast shows there will be little if anything available for higher education, education and transportation past this next budget year. And that’s the problem, Solin told Colorado Politics. This is only one-time money, she said and intermittent at that, which means the state can’t bond against it or rely on it for large-dollar transportation projects. “It won’t make a meaningful dent,” she said, in the state’s $9 billion transportation backlog. The state budget should include a more meaningful amount of money for transportation, coupled with a continued discussion of new revenue sources, she said. “We’ve engaged in discussions with leaders on what that looks like, and whether they’re ready for prime time this legislative session or next remains to be seen,” Solin said. “We have to recommit ourselves to making transportation funding a priority in this state,” but it’s not a top priority for the governor, at least for now, she added. “Once he’s able to check the box on the things he’s had as his highest priorities, he can re-focus some energy around transportation.” The hope for bipartisan support already may have hit a roadblock. House Minority Leader Republican Patrick Neville of Castle Rock sent out a news release that claimed the measure would spell the “ELIMINATION” of TABOR. “Democrats can’t pay for all of their empty promises made in the last election, so now they want to permanently eliminate your tax refunds to pay for their expensive programs,” Neville said. “It is egregious that the Democrats want to forever take away your consent on what is done with your tax dollars.” Latest attempt to tame TABOR tries to steer a different route Colorado Politics Colorado's latest "de-Brucing" proposal -- a measure that would let the state spend excess tax revenue that otherwise would be refunded under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights -- doesn't go down the same road as its 2005 predecessor. The earlier measure was Referendum C, a five-year reprieve from TABOR's spending caps that Colorado voters approved 14 years ago. One of the knocks against Ref C was that the revenue it freed up never really went to its identified purposes: health care, public education, roads and bridges, and fire and police pensions.